


Life Is Not Endless

by buttless



Category: Loveless
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen, Grief, RECENT CHAPTER SPOILERS, Spoiler Alert - Freeform, Teacher-Student Relationship, Unrequited Love, death mention, young ritsu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 05:31:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6225877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttless/pseuds/buttless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Ritsu waking up in the hospital next to Akio<br/>A series of events leads to fifteen year old Ritsu waking up in the infirmary to find his teacher Akio by his side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life Is Not Endless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DailyDaves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DailyDaves/gifts).



> *throws another ≤1,000w drabble into the abyss*  
> I actually hope to continue this one, I enjoyed the setting quite a bit.

Fifteen days ago, Minami Ritsu age fifteen had confessed his love to Sugou Akio age twenty two. Thirteen days ago, when urged to give an answer Akio turned down Ritsu. Then the following two weeks were dreadful for him. He was so discouraged, so angry. He just kept wondering, how could he make her understand?

Then, then, Sanae died. Then Akio-sensei stopped speaking to him. She blamed him, Ritsu knew it. She probably felt horribly guilty herself too, for being involved at all. Nagisa cried incessantly, locked herself in her dorm, pounded on the walls. Ritsu hadn’t said a word to her yet. He wasn’t sure words could make anything better anyway. 

Late at night Ritsu was starting to realize the consequences of Sanae’s death, he didn’t have a Fighter now. And he felt the pain of her absence, of the severed thread. Not remorse over a dead friend, but a physical pain wracking his body. The pain of losing connection to a soul that was bound to your own. 

“It’s been nearly two weeks now, and these pains don’t stop,” Ritsu complained to his ceiling in his empty room. He sighed and rolled over on the mattress. He never cared much for Sanae anyway, why must he feel so much pain over losing her? Would it ever go away? His ears twitched and flattened against his head.

This morning, Ritsu’s pain peaked. He fell to the floor in agony on his way to class. He growled and winced in pain. The room spun around him as he tried to regain balance, hands pressed firm on the cool tiles. Classmates were staring from a distance, someone was off to get an adult. The pain kept coming, it was as if Sanae’s soul had not left all at once when she died. Slowly, bit by bit was dying off, bit by bit their connection was severed. This blow felt as though someone had sliced through the final thread of their connection with a pair of shears. Tears streamed down Ritsu’s face and things went dark. 

This afternoon Ritsu awoke in on the stiff infirmary mattress. He looked around wildly, his eyes widening as he saw that Sugou-sensei was right next to him. No one else was around, and the curtains were pulled around his bed.

“A-Akio,” he sputtered.

She offered him a soft smile and explained that she had carried him to the nurses office when a student had run to her for help. “I’m glad I was able to help you, Ritsu-kun.” Despite Ritsu’s involvement in Sanae’s death and his strange infatuation with Akio, she couldn’t help but pity him. It was a tough thing for a fifteen year old to go through. As if being fifteen isn’t already hard enough. “What happened Ritsu-kun? The nurse was by but she couldn’t say.”

Ritsu was embarrassed, embarrassed of how much it hurt to loose Sanae and embarrassed to be seen by so many of his classmates in that pain. He was a Sacrifice, he was supposed to be strong against pain. Though, those abilities were probably meaningless now that he shared his name with no one. And it hit him too that he was embarrassed to tell Akio, she didn’t have a name, she wouldn’t understand. She would look down on him like adults tend to do.  
“I guess I didn’t get enough sleep last night,” he tried weakly.

Akio looked disappointed in him now, she didn’t like being lied to. Or spared of the hard details. “I know you were in a lot of pain Ritsu-kun. Should I get the nurse, if you don’t wan’t to talk to me?”

Ritsu stayed silent a moment and watched as Akio stepped away from him, a warning. A tear rolled down his face as he thought about the words he wanted to say. That he didn’t want to say. 

Akio was already turning away, slowly. She wanted to give Ritsu a chance to speak to her, but she was also irritated by his demeanor. He reached out his arm towards her, and as she noticed it in her peripheral she heard him whimper, “Sanae left.” And Akio looked back and saw on the crying child’s face, real pain, and on his outstretched arm, a name like she never had of her own, printed neatly on his wrist.


End file.
